Word Origin & History

demagogue 1640s, from Gk. demagogos "leader of the people," from demos "people" (see demotic) + agogos "leader," from agein "to lead" (see act). A term of disparagement ever since it was first used in Athens, 5c. B.C.E. As a verb, attested by 1980s, Amer.Eng. Related: Demagogic (1831); demagoguery (1866); demagogy (1650s).

Example Sentences for demagogue

The man appealed and explained; but he was disliked as a demagogue, as well as a photographer.

His merits as a demagogue and political writer are undeniable.

While some deputies eulogized him as a champion of truth, others denounced him as a demagogue and a menace to the public welfare.

And you are a demagogue, and a demigod, and a Jew, and a Mephisto!

There is no rope for the hanging of a demagogue like free speech; no such disastrous gift for the socialist as freedom of action.

He is a demagogue, stirring up the wild-beast passions of the people.

Suffrage is but the new paper cloak with which the Demagogue has sought to hide the issue.

The constituency of the grog seller is the ready made tool of the demagogue.

Thersites, the insolent brawler and demagogue, attempting to ridicule his grief, was in consequence slain by the hero.

No one would have the United States play the role of a bully, or enact the demagogue.